


Pretty and Salty

by helloyesIamtrash



Series: Inked at Midnight [20]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Domestic Fluff, Don't Judge Me, Fluff, Fluff and Salt, Happy Ending, M/M, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Youtuber AU, bc im thirsty for youtuber aus ok, highkey missed bokuroo too much so they're here too, idk - Freeform, is that a thing?, meeting at a party trope, my two setter sons are so sweet god bless, there is salty in here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 20:23:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9401486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helloyesIamtrash/pseuds/helloyesIamtrash
Summary: Though no one knows how or why, at midnight on a person’s 16th birthday, they get writing on their wrist, almost like a tattoo. This writing, whatever it says, has something to do with your soulmate. It’s usually something like the first thing they say to you after it appears, or an inside joke you two will have, maybe a phrase they say a lot. Simply a push in the right direction, fate’s little nudge-nudge wink-wink about what future you have in store. This is the story of how Akaashi and Kenma became soulmates.





	

**Author's Note:**

> *shows up late with a starbucks and screeches*   
> WE OUT HERE   
> Hi I'm not dead (I swear) and holy s h i t I just kinda-sorta got over the biggest fuckING writer's block in the whole world jesus christ   
> IM SORRY THIS IS SO LATE BUT IT'S HERE AND P LONG I REALLY HOPE YOU ALL LIKE IT

Though no one knows how or why, at midnight on a person’s 16th birthday, they get writing on their wrist, almost like a tattoo. This writing, whatever it says, has something to do with your soulmate. It’s usually something like the first thing they say to you after it appears, or an inside joke you two will have, maybe a phrase they say a lot. Simply a push in the right direction, fate’s little nudge-nudge wink-wink about what future you have in store. 

Kenma knew that it was probably a bad idea to move in with Kuroo when his friend had asked him to. Not that Kuroo would be a terrible roommate, because he really was the ideal one for Kenma. He knew how to cook edible meals that weren’t always straight out of the freezer, he paid his rent on time, and he knew when to give Kenma his space. They had known each other for forever, too, so there was no chance of catching feelings this late in their friendship. It would have been perfect, really. 

It was just the apartment building that they moved into. 

Everyone in the building seemed to know each other and were either great friends, fuck buddies, or mortal enemies. Which meant that no one was quiet. Or sane, for that matter. It was almost like reality TV, but right in front of him and more of a danger when it comes to people throwing things at each other. 

A man named Oikawa lived above them with his boyfriend Iwaizumi and, while Iwaizumi was very nice, Oikawa could be rather obnoxious and the couple was very… loud… in the evening hours. His next door neighbor was a short guy named Hinata, who apparently had endless energy and positivity. It was exhausting. His other neighbor was a guy named Tanaka who had no volume control. And those were only the ones that he had met in the last few months. He heard stories from Kuroo, who actually socialized with the crazies around them and found great joy in telling all of the gossip to Kenma. 

Apparently there was a dickhead named Daishou one floor below them that Kuroo couldn’t stand. A guy named Terushima is a constant flirt (and ‘pretty hot’, according to his friend). Two floors down, there was a nice couple named Daichi and Sugawara and Kuroo is weirded out by how nice they are. He’s determined to find out what’s wrong with them, and so far, there’s nothing. Kenma told him to knock it off. 

The one who he heard the most about were these two youtubers a few doors down from them in apartment 3C. One of them was a loud, obnoxious man named Bokuto who Kenma had the (dis)pleasure of meeting one time on the elevator, and Kenma was reminded once again why he only left the apartment when necessary. It wasn’t that he was rude, he was actually rather nice. He was just… a lot. His roommate was someone Kenma hadn’t met yet, a man named Akaashi who was apparently ‘one of the prettiest people’ Kuroo had ever seen. 

After becoming fast friends, Kuroo became a regular on Bokuto’s prank channel, Owlways, consisting of them trying to prank every single person in the building. A few of them were quite entertaining, like the one where they dropped balloons filled with paint onto Daishou’s head. However, the ridiculous pair had a pact to not prank their roommates (in fear of hellish consequences), and to not prank each other unless it was their given Week Of War held once a year. 

Either way, Bokuto became a frequent visitor to their household. 

Kenma much preferred playthroughs of video games to their videos, anyways. There was a channel he followed near-religiously called Pretty&Salty. The youtuber Aka gave witty commentary and posted pretty regularly. His voice was smooth and melodic, and it calmed Kenma. Aka was his favorite youtuber by far. 

“Ken, time to go!” Either way, Kenma had lost his train of thought - going back to Kuroo being his roommate. Usually, it was good. Kuroo was a decent cook, knowing how to make a good amount of meals and also always being the one to talk to the person on the phone when they want to order in. 

“Kenma!” He always paid rent on time. 

“I know you’re not sleeping in there, kitten.” He helped hide their cat, Mitzi, from the landlord whenever surprise visits happened. 

“You’re not getting out of this.” Altogether, Kuroo was usually the perfect roommate. 

“Get up!” Kuroo grunted, throwing up the covers on Kenma’s bed with an all-too-smug grin. 

It was perfect... When he didn’t try to force Kenma to socialize, of course. 

“I don’t want to go.” Kenma said blankly, a small pout on his face as he glared up at his friend. 

“You promised you would go.” Kuroo said accusingly, and Kenma rolled himself tighter into his little ball. They had run into Bokuto on the elevator a few weeks prior and the owl-like boy had invited them to his birthday party. Kuroo immediately said yes, but Kenma had clearly hesitated - therefore, Bokuto pulled out the Big Guns by pouting and making his eyes shiny and innocent. No one was immune, so the youngest of the group relented with a reluctant sigh and a nod. 

“He cheated.” Kenma grumbled, slowly getting up off the bed and rubbing the corners of his eyes. 

“But you still said you would go.” Kuroo pointed out with a victorious smile, earning himself a glare. Kenma slowly got ready, purposefully taking a long time as he pulled on a large pale-blue sweater and black skinny jeans. 

“Present?” Kenma asked as he got on his shoes, to which Kuroo cursed under his breath and raced back to his room. Kenma internally snickered - he knew that his friend would forget. It was his one vice. Without Kenma, Kuroo would probably forget his own pants walking out the door. Kuroo returned with a neatly-wrapped gift. 

“Present!” Kuroo said with a grin as he trotted back to him. With a small huff, Kenma turned on his heel and shuffled out of their apartment with his handheld in his sweatshirt megapocket and his phone in his hand. Kuroo followed close behind, humming as they walked a few doors down to 3C, where he they could hear Bokuto yelling already. The older of the two rang the doorbell, and the door quickly swung open to reveal a very, very attractive man with dark hair and slanted greyish eyes. When he looked at Kuroo, he seemed to age twenty years. 

“Hello, Kuroo-san.” The man said as he sighed. He sounded eerily like Kenma’s favorite youtuber, Aka. 

“Hello to you too, Akaashi,” Kuroo grinned, unphased by the man’s lackluster greeting. Aka. Akaashi. Kenma’s eyes widened ever-so-slightly as he quickly looked down at the floor. “This is Kenma, my roommate. Kenma, Akaashi. Akaashi, Kenma.” 

Akaashi looked him up and down and gave a polite nod, opening his mouth when a large blur of black and white whirled onto the doorstep. 

“Dude, you’re here!” Bokuto bounced up and down on his heels excitedly as he looked at the two arrivals. 

“Happy Birthday, Bokuto!” Kuroo grinned as he handed him his gift. Golden eyes lit up as he smiled. 

“Happy Birthday.” Kenma said quietly, looking down at the floor, and the rocking of feet immediately stopped. Kenma made the mistake of looking up and groaned internally - Bokuto was staring at him with awe. 

“Dude, this is like when your cat chooses to sit on my lap.” Bokuto whisper-yelled excitedly to Kuroo, who snorted. They were ushered inside, but Kenma’s head was still swirling from Akaashi. Kenma went over traits in his head from the few moments he saw of him. He was ridiculously pretty, long sleeves that covered whatever soulmate tattoo he might have had. That was fair, Kenma was covering up his - ‘You know, if you use that then you’ll do double damage against him’ was written in a stormy blue-grey. Kenma looked up from his spot on a solitary beanbag chair - the party was in full swing, most of their neighbors there. Akaashi was smiling and talking softly to Sugawara over near a snack table. A part of his mind mumbled something about the pretty ones sticking together, but his eyes flicked back to his game. He pulled up a nondescript adventure game, frowning as he remembered that he was still on a tough boss fight. 

His eyes tended to flick back and forth between his screen and the party itself - not that he was too keen on interacting with everyone there, but that the events occurring were rather interesting. Bokuto and Kuroo were mostly sparking the interactions between people, as they all joined in on a game called Pressure - he gleaned that it was kind of like telephone. The players all sat in a circle. Then, one person would whisper a random question to someone else, usually one where the answer would be a person’s name that was sitting in the circle, like ‘If you had to kill someone in this room, who would it be?’. The person who was asked would say their answer out loud, without any elaboration. The rest of the circle would then countdown from five to one, and at the last second, the person who asked and the person who answered would yell out either the number one or the number two. If they said the same number, they would have to tell everyone what the question was. If they said different numbers, no one else would know their answer. 

Of course, this led to utter chaos. 

“Two.” Bokuto and Akaashi said in unison, and Bokuto let out an annoyed groan. His answer had been Kuroo. 

“If you had to live with anyone else.” Akaashi explained, and Kuroo beamed widely at his friend. 

“Awwww, love you too.” Kuroo smirked as he winked at Bokuto, whose reaction was rather similar. Kenma returned his focus back to his game, wrinkling his nose - he knew all too well that a bro-moment was coming up, and he wasn’t too keen on seeing the same act for the millionth time. The next time he looked up, it was because he had heard Hinata let out a low whine. Golden eyes flicked upwards. 

“The question was who he thought was hotter, Oikawa or Kageyama.” Noya said with a devilish grin, and judging by how offended Oikawa looked and how red Kageyama was turning, Hinata had probably chosen Kageyama. 

“I-It’s Akaashi’s turn!” Hinata sputtered, quick to take the attention off of him, and it worked - Bokuto jumped at the opportunity, probably wanting to insight some revenge onto his roommate. He whispered something, and Kenma was about to turn his attention back to the game when he heard a slow, melodic voice ring out in the near-silent room. 

“Kenma.” Akaashi said simply to Bokuto, stormy blue eyes flicking over to the boy sitting in the corner. Kenma was careful to keep his face blank, but his interest was piqued. Hushed murmurs fell around the group, and Kuroo looked at Kenma with a strange face… Smug? He couldn’t tell, but it made him feel irritated the more he looked at him. 

The group began to count down. “Five…” What kind of question would make him answer with the name of someone he hadn’t even directly spoken to, Kenma wondered. 

“Four…” It couldn’t have been about personality, they barely knew each other at all. 

“Three…” If the theme of general outward appearance questions continued, then that was most likely the cause.

“Two…” However, Kenma didn’t find himself attractive, or see any standout feature of his that would evoke such acknowledgement.

“One!” The group called, and Akaashi’s number clashed with Bokuto’s. 

“Two.” “One.” They said together, Bokuto’s face screwing up into a huff. 

“Better luck next time, babe.” Kuroo soothed, satiating Bokuto, but Kenma’s golden gaze was kept on Akaashi, who looked somewhat relieved. Their eyes met for a moment, and Akaashi gave him the tiniest of smiles. He didn’t know why his heart started to beat a little bit faster, but he was going to blame it on the difficult boss battle he was on. 

It really was difficult, though. He had been stuck on the same fight for most of the party - his attacks never did that much to the boss, that was his thing. However, that thing was causing visible frustration as he expertly pressed buttons only to lose. It was highly irritating. As he looked up he realized it was getting late, and most of the guests had left the party.

“Kenma, can I? Talk to you?” A voice from behind him asked, and Kenma reluctantly paused his game to turn around and face Bokuto, who looked uncharacteristically jittery. He gave the birthday boy a nod, and Bokuto glanced around - no sign of whatever he was looking for, apparently. Everyone else had migrated into another portion of the apartment, anyways. “Uhm, I really, really like Kuroo.” 

“Really.” Kenma replied, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm. Everyone knew that the two were soulmates; Hell, Kuroo knew that they were soulmates. Really, everyone except Bokuto knew. How, you ask? Well, back when Kuroo was just a fan of Bokuto’s Youtube channel and they didn’t know each other, Kuroo had literally bumped into Bokuto when he was running late for something or other, resulting in the vague red tattoo of ‘Sorry, man!’ for him. When they officially met, though, it seemed only Kuroo remembered, and when Bokuto gave him his tattoo - ‘Whoa, dude, your hair is like whoosh!’ - Kuroo decided to wait and see where this would go. He didn’t want to rush into things, but that inadvertently created so much pining for Kenma to constantly hear about. Though it seemed that Bokuto might finally make a move. 

“Yeah, I do. Anyways, I was wondering if I could have, like, your blessing?” Bokuto asked seriously, his large eyes sparkling at Kenma as he raised an eyebrow. He would never actually voice this, but it was a little flattering to have Bokuto ask him. It was his birthday, anyways, so Kenma decided to do a little more than he would usually. 

“You make him happy,” Kenma murmured as he made reluctant eye contact with him, putting a small hand on Bokuto’s shoulder. “Go. It’s not up to me, anyway.” He finished, averting his eyes quickly as Bokuto’s own practically lit up. 

“Can I have a hug? It’ll be quick, I promise!” Bokuto blurted, and it was kinda pushing it, but Kenma shrugged, which was a universal yes for him. The taller beamed and hugged him with a surprising gentleness before hopping back up and practically skid back into another room. Kenma breathed a small sigh of relief as he went back to his game, though it was no less frustrating than it was before. 

“You know, if you use that then you’ll do double damage against him.” A smooth, melodic voice said behind him as he felt his blood turn into ice. He looked to his covered-up wrists; No one could have seen his tattoo, it wasn’t some sort of cruel joke. He paused his game and turned his head to look at the force who just sat down near him. It was Akaashi. How could that be? Kenma had heard his voice before, back when they were playing the game, but he supposed that Akaashi wasn’t technically talking to him in particular. Tattoos were rather finicky in that way. Snapping back to reality, Kenma looked at what Akaashi was pointing at and - Oh. He was really stupid, he was using normal arrows instead of magic arrows. His mind whirling as he gave a small nod of acknowledgement, and he switched the arrows and continued with the battle. It took less than two minutes to finish off the boss this time, and he felt a wave of satisfaction overtake him. 

“I had been stuck on that for an hour… Thanks.” He murmured automatically as he retrieved his reward, not realizing what had slipped out of his mouth until it was too late. 

“Oh,” Akaashi breathed softly, and Kenma paused the game with a small sigh and peeked at his expression through the strands of his hair. It made a little jolt of electricity zoom through him as their eyes met, his breathing quicken ever-so-slightly. “We should probably talk about this, then.” 

Kenma nodded slowly, his heart beating faster than he’d like to admit. How did Akaashi get under his skin with a few simple words? It was scary and exciting all at the same time, and Kenma wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. 

“I would assume romantic, unless your tattoo is green?” Akaashi asked, and Kenma rolled up his sweater to reveal his blue-grey, neatly inked words, shaking his head slightly. 

“Yeah.” Kenma murmured softly, his eyes flicking upwards to Akaashi’s steel blue-gray. 

“If I’m honest, I’m not sure what I want out of this relationship, regardless of tattoos. I would rather us get to know each other first, if that’s alright.” Akaashi said kindly, his careful gaze on Kenma, and he felt a wave of relief roll through him. Kenma was always unsure of his feelings, especially when it came to romance. He had never experienced it before, so how was he supposed to tell the difference between that and platonic? Being immediately thrown into a romantic relationship would be way, way too much for him. 

“I’d like that,” Kenma said, a little more clear and a little more confident this time around. He could do this, he could try this. Besides, Akaashi was pretty (he was unsure, not blind). “Thank you.” 

“It’s no trouble,” Akaashi reassured, his aura comforting and relaxed. “So how did you and Kuroo meet?” 

“Childhood friends,” Kenma said shortly, but then internally winced - he was used to these clipped answers with strangers, but he wanted to try with Akaashi. It was force of habit he would have to get over. “He hit me in the face with a volleyball and then immediately recruited me to play with him. How did you meet Bokuto?” 

“He would do that,” Akaashi laughed lightly, his eyes shining with mirth. “We were in gym together during the volleyball unit, and he, of course, was on the volleyball team. He took one look at me and dragged me over to be his team’s setter - something about good physique. Turned out that we worked really well on the court, and he then asked me every day to join the volleyball team. After a lot of nagging, I went to a few practices and got attached. The rest is history.” He recounted with a wry, teasing smile. 

“We’re both friends with idiots.” Kenma deadpanned, and Akaashi chuckled. 

“That we are. And yet we’re still with them,” He hummed. “The first time I met Kuroo, he and Bokuto were drunk off of their consecutive asses and Bokuto started to cry because snakes don’t have arms. Kuroo told him that snakes don’t deserve to have arms - in retrospect, he was probably referring to Daishou - and that only make Bokuto cry harder.” 

The tiniest of smiles tugged at the corner of his lips. “When I met Bokuto, he immediately knew that I was the friend Kuroo always talked about, he apparently recognized my hair or something. Wouldn’t stop asking me for ‘inside information’ about Kuroo, whatever that meant,” Kenma rolled his eyes. “I’ve been the designated driver for those two too many times.” 

“Haven’t we all?” Akaashi sighed, his voice laced with distaste. “Do they sing Beyonce in the car with you, too?” 

“I know all of the words to Countdown because of them. I love her music, but not when they’re singing it.” Kenma said gravely, his eyes slowly becoming dead inside. 

“Akaashi, are you complaining about our lovely voices?” Kuroo asked suavely as he and Bokuto strode into the room, unashamed at the new hickeys on their necks as they preened. Clearly, the asking-out had gone over well, Kenma thought with an eye roll. 

Akaashi was silent for a moment, but then he spoke. “Hold up.” He said, his eyebrows raised and his voice implying something that Kenma wasn’t understanding, but apparently the other two did, as their faces went pale. 

“You’re pretty salty today, aren’t you, Akaashi? Lighten up a little.” Kuroo replied, his tone mirroring the other’s. Akaashi’s lips pressed together tightly, and he nodded. Apparently, they had reached some sort of agreement, or stalemate. 

“I see you both have finally worked everything out. Congratulations.” Akaashi changed the subject, but there was a gleam in his eye - this wasn’t over, far from it. 

“Took us long enough.” Bokuto laughed brightly, his arm squeezing around Kuroo’s waist, and Kenma didn’t miss the grateful look Bokuto threw his way. 

“You two are disgusting already.” Kenma droned, but he was truly happy for the new couple. 

“Whatever you say, Ken.” Kuroo grinned, pressing a kiss to Bokuto’s cheek with a smirk thrown his way. 

“Gross. Get out,” Kenma deadpanned, and with a laugh, Kuroo took his soulmate into the other room. “What was that about?” Kenma asked, turning to Akaashi with a questioning look as he referred to the charged eye contact and unspoken threats exchanged. The other gave a weary sigh. 

“Well, one time when I was driving them home I got fed up of their screeching to Beyonce, so when Hold Up came on I belted it over them. They got really quiet after the first verse. Now whenever I mention it, they get really defensive because they couldn’t keep up with me.” Akaashi chuckled softly. Kenma felt the tiniest grin float onto his face without permission, but for some reason, he didn’t mind. 

“And the other one?” Kenma asked. 

“Well, not a lot of people know this, but I have a YouTube channel called Pretty and Salty. I’m not the biggest fan of showing my face though, and it doesn’t come up often in conversation. I’m self-conscious, I suppose. But that’s what Kuroo was referring to.” Akaashi admitted softly, and Kenma felt his brain go at a mile per minute. Akaashi, his soulmate, was his favorite youtuber? So he wasn’t being delirious when he first heard the other’s voice, it really was him. Should he mention that? It could flatter him, but he also said that he was self-conscious about it. He didn’t want to lie, however… 

“I’ve watched your videos before. You’re funny.” Kenma said simply, his eyes meeting the floor. 

“You have?” Akaashi asked in surprise, eyebrows shooting upwards, and Kenma nodded as he made slight eye contact. 

“You don’t overreact and you keep your commentary interesting without it being too much.” Kenma elaborated, his eyes sliding away as his cheeks reddened slightly. 

“Thank you, Kenma. That means a lot, coming from you.” Akaashi replied quietly. 

“Also, for the part you’re stuck on in your latest Let’s Play, you need to get a shield upgrade in order to beat the boss.” Kenma stated as he cautiously leaned his head onto Akaashi’s shoulder, golden gaze focused on part of the wall directly in front of them. 

Akaashi clicked his tongue. “I knew I should have gone back to check and see if there were any upgrades. Do you think I should go on a few side quests after that, or…” He asked, and the two continued to talk about video games, branching out once the two were comfortable enough. The just sat there, talking about everything and nothing into the early hours of the morning. Kenma enjoyed learning the small things about his soulmate. 

1) Akaashi was very much an ambivert, or as Bokuto called it previously, an introverted-extrovert. He liked people well enough and could be around them for extended periods of time, but he still needed to recharge and not talk to anyone. Kenma thought it was a good balance for him. 

2) Akaashi would wear eyeliner from time to time. Not for any particular occasion, just when he felt like it. His interest have been piqued when he first met Oikawa and saw his large hoard of makeup, politely asking for the brunet to put some light eyeliner on. Oikawa, of course, did that and more, and while Akaashi agreed that he liked the look, he would stick to eyeliner and a bit of mascara. Kenma couldn’t wait to see this in person.

3) Akaashi had been looking for someone to edit his videos for a while, as his channel was growing bigger than he had ever anticipated and his editing went at the pace of a show-moving train. Or a hungover Bokuto. Either way, Kenma was happy to do so - call him crazy, but he actually enjoyed editing. 

4) Akaashi’s real smile was very, very pretty. 

Kenma found himself looking forward to what the future had in store for the two of them. Somehow, he wasn’t afraid. 

Epilogue: 

A camera turned on and two guys with big grins and shitty hair popped up onto the screen. 

“I’m Pretty,” Said the first one, whose salt-and-pepper hair was somehow working for him even though he didn’t look a day over twenty-two. 

“And I’m Salty,” Said the other one, whose eyes gleamed as a Cheshire smirk grew on his face. “And together, we’re-” 

“A mess.” Kenma deadpanned off-screen, and an out-of-sight Akaashi let out a soft laugh. 

Immediately after, a logo played of a cartoon cat meowed and pawed a salt container off of the counter it was on. A shatter was heard, and the camera panned down to the broken container, the grains of salt now spelling out the words ‘Pretty and Salty’. 

“Hello, everyone. Sorry about the terrible intro, but we have certain guests here.” Akaashi said to the camera, the four of them all huddled on Akaashi’s couch. 

“Hey, guys!” Bokuto chimed, waving excitedly at the camera. 

“As a surprise to literally no one, we’re back.” Kuroo chuckled as he waved. 

A lot had changed in the past year or so, for Kenma and Akaashi. Ever since Bokuto and Kuroo got together, they had been spending more and more time in Kenma and Kuroo’s apartment, and Kenma had been ‘getting to know’ Akaashi over at Akaashi and Bokuto’s. So, when they suggested a roommate swap to the older pair of the four, they questioned nothing of it. Now, the respective couples live in their apartments a few doors down from each other, and they couldn’t be happier. 

Yes, couples. Plural. 

After three months of spending time with the dark-haired setter, he and Kenma agreed to start dating, both stating that the friendship portion of their relationship was a good idea and a nice starting point instead of simply jumping right into a relationship with someone they each barely knew. However, they both agreed on something else - they wouldn’t tell anyone, and see who figured it out. 

In the meantime, Kenma had begun to help with editing Akaashi’s videos. At first it was strictly professional, with simple cuts and nothing noticeably different for fans to theorize about. Soon, though, he was pointing out a few things that Akaashi was missing for a long while in the edits, having freeze-frame moments with ‘it’s literally right there’ and ‘you’ve missed the turn for the fifth time smh’ to name a few. People were buzzing about this new style, wondering if this was just how ‘Aka’ was editing his videos now until one day, the youtuber asked “Kenma, be a dear and point out where the potion is in my inventory for the viewers right now? I can’t see it at the moment and I need to head out.” The screen promptly froze with a red circle clearly drawn in Paint SAI around said potion - the caption reading ‘I’m your editor, not your mom’. 

The fanbase then exploded, asking about who this ‘Kenma’ was, when they started working with Aka, and if he could be introduced in a video. Akaashi, who was still relatively new to showing his face on youtube at this point, was a little hesitant to bring it up since he was unsure of how Kenma would react. The blond, however was completely fine with it, so a few days later, a video entitled ‘Meet Kenma’ was posted. It was mostly a means to answer frequently asked questions, but the smaller of the two was rather snarky, his commentary flowing well with Akaashi. There was a brief war in the fanbase to decide who was the ‘Pretty’ and who was the ‘Salty’ of the pair, when Kenma announced that he was clearly the salty one, and that was that. 

Soon after, the blond started appearing alongside Akaashi in his videos, becoming more and more frequent until the point where Kenma was in most of the videos. 

“We basically co-own the channel at this point, so why not just keep it that way?” Akaashi asked one night, a gentle smile aimed at Kenma, who blinked for a moment before nodding, his eyes sparkling with unspoken gratitude and happiness. 

Pretty and Salty also collaborated often with Owlways, Kuroo and Bokuto’s prank channel. Mostly it was on non-prank videos, and no one really understood why until a video called ‘Prank Fails ft Akaashi and Kenma’ was posted, revealing all of the times that the pair had failed to prank the former setters. Even today, it’s one of their most-viewed videos. 

Typically, though, they made Q and A’s together - though this one would be different. 

“What are your kinks...? We’re not answering that on camera.” Kuroo winked at the camera, Bokuto chuckling as Akaashi shook his head. Kenma slowly looked up at the camera like they were in The Office, face deadpan and absolutely done, though that was by no means unusual for the annoyed blond.

“What’s the worst part about living in your apartment building- Daishou.” Bokuto said immediately, Kuroo’s nose wrinkling in agreement as he nodded. 

“The fact that there are maybe three people in this building that are normal and nice.” Kenma grimaced, a small shudder running down his back. 

“There’s always some sort of construction going on.” Akaashi added after a moment, and they all made noises of agreement. 

“Thoughts on soulmates?” Bokuto read off from his twitter, and a huge grin split onto his face as he wrapped his arm around his boyfriend. “They’re wonderful and amazing and mine is right here!” He beamed, and Kuroo gave him a peck on the lips. 

“So is mine.” Kenma spoke up, looking up at Akaashi with a small tug at his lips. Akaashi smiled softly and took the blond’s hand, looking at the camera for a moment before Bokuto broke the silence. 

“Wait, what the fuck?” He exclaimed, eyes flicking back and forth between the two. “When did that happen?” 

“More than a year ago. What do you mean?” Kenma said innocently, cocking his head to one side. 

“You guys are soulmates?” Kuroo said incredulously, eyes nearly popping out of his head. 

“Of course, was it not obvious?” Akaashi asked, his eyebrows furrowing. This was fun. 

“No! No it wasn’t!” Bokuto cried out, waving his hands in the air. A ‘please stand by’ portion suddenly interrupted the video before returning to a very pleased looking Akaashi and Kenma, and their drained-looking best friends. 

“So, all in all, as those two have tried to prank us multiples times and failed miserably, we decided to prank them back. On the night they got together, I met Kenma for the first time and figured out that we were soulmates, but at the time were both confused and unsure about pursuing a romantic relationship immediately. So, instead, we decided to see how things went for the future. About… three months?” Akaashi asked Kenma, who nodded in confirmation. “Three months after that, we got together, so of course no one really knew that we were soulmates, or even dating, so we just never told anyone. We wanted to see how long it would take everyone to figure it out.” He finished with a perfectly neutral and polite smile resting on his face. 

“It was taking a while and I just wanted to see the looks on their faces.” Kenma said in a monotone, though the corners of his lips were twitching upwards as he glanced up at the camera. 

“So, thoughts?” Akaashi quipped to the other two who were laying on the ground. 

“I hate you both.” Kuroo griped, crossing his arms, but Bokuto seemed to snap out of his stupor. 

“I’m happy for them!” Bokuto said with a cheerful grin, and his boyfriend rolled his eyes. 

“Well yeah, but I also hate them both.” Kuroo grumbled, though he perked up visibly when Bokuto pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. 

“Anyways, thank you all for watching, we’ll see you all in the next video.” Akaashi said with a slight smile as Kenma leaned on his shoulder, and the camera clicked off. 

As they were editing away later that night, the clicking of the mouse and keyboard stopped for a moment, and Akaashi looked over to his soulmate with a quizzical expression. Seeing the blank look on Kenma’s face, he walked over and looked at the screen in front of them, bending down and resting his head on his shoulder. 

“Do you think this will be okay?” Kenma asked after a little while of silence, fidgeting with his fingers as he stared at the nearly-finished video. The dark-haired boy knew Kenma well enough that he immediately figured out the underlying question in it- Will we be okay? He sighed softly and felt the corners of his lips tug upwards gently, because the truth was, he didn’t know. He didn’t know if this would turn out okay, he didn’t know if they would be accepted or shunned, he simply didn’t.

There were a lot of things he wasn’t sure about. He wasn’t sure if they would still be living in the same apartment in a year or so, he didn’t know of they would jump on the train of other youtubers and write a book, he didn’t know what the future had in store for them. However...

“Yeah, this will be okay.” Akaashi said softly, pressing a quick kiss to his soulmate’s cheek. Kenma hummed with a small smile on his face, and the clicking and typing resumed. 

… As long as he was with Kenma, he knew that everything would be absolutely fine. 

(The next day, the overwhelming support from the community maybe made Kenma cry. Maybe even Akaashi, as well.) 

(Bonus: The next day, Kenma tweeted this: when ur bf is petty to the point where he would not tell his bffs about his soulmate bc he’s salty that they told me his yt channel #exposed)

**Author's Note:**

> I HOPE YOU ALL LIKED IT I LOVE AKAASHI AND KENMA SO MUCH   
> Options!!!!
> 
> A) OiYama (on epilogue)   
> B) TanaNoya (not started)   
> C) Kinkuni (not started)   
> D) Saekiyoko (not started)   
> E) OiTsukki (not started but just,,, /think about it/) 
> 
> I LOVE YOU ALL A HECKING LOT   
> MY TUMBLR IS @decadentcandyeagle IF YOU WANNA HMU OR BE MY FRIEND <3


End file.
